Pitts: Jacksonville killing raises question

It is a kind of myopia that afflicts some of us — too many of us — whenever we gaze upon a dark-skinned man. It causes some of us — too many of us — to see things that are not there, and to miss things that are. Sometimes, it is fatal.

We cannot yet know if black blindness was the cause of death for Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old black kid who was killed the night after Thanksgiving. But there is reason to suspect it was. Davis was shot by a 45-year-old white man, Michael David Dunn, who says he saw a rifle. At this writing, police have recovered no such weapon.

The altercation began with an argument in a gas station in Jacksonville, Fla. Dunn had pulled in so his girlfriend could go to the convenience store. In an SUV next to him were Davis and three other teenagers playing their music too loudly.

Dunn told them to turn it down. An argument ensued. Dunn’s attorney, Robin Lemonidis, says the teenagers peppered him with obscenities and insults. Then, she says, Davis poked a rifle through an open window, threatened her client and began to open the door of the SUV. Dunn reached for his pistol and came up firing.

The SUV peeled out. Dunn kept shooting at it because, his lawyer says, he feared the teenagers might come back after him.

“There is no racial motivation here whatsoever,” she told The New York Times. But even if you buy that, Dunn’s story still has holes in it you could drive a shot-up SUV through.

Consider: someone’s got a gun trained on you, about to shoot, yet you have time to reach for your glove box, open it, unholster your own weapon and bring it up?

Then there’s the fact that afterward, Dunn and his girlfriend went to a hotel. You’ve been threatened, you had to shoot to save your life... and you go to a hotel? You don’t alert authorities about this SUV full of dangerous kids roaming the streets?

So Dunn’s story is shaky without the overlay of race.

With it, with the obvious comparisons to the killing of Trayvon Martin, one can only wonder if black blindness has not claimed yet another victim. That is a danger all over the country, but particularly in Florida, whose misbegotten Stand Your Ground law essentially licenses any citizen to use deadly force against any other citizen so long as the first citizen claims he or she felt threatened.

Sure enough, Lemonidis is considering just such a defense for her client.

The frightening thing, if you are a young African-American man, is that you know nothing makes some folks feel more “threatened” than you. Nor do you threaten by doing. You threaten by being. You threaten by existing.

Such is the invidious result of four centuries of propaganda in which every form of malfeasance, bestiality and criminality is blamed on you.

In such an environment Florida’s law inevitably becomes a potential “Get Out Of Jail Free” card for anyone who shoots a young black man.

And until or unless there is a definitive answer, they — we — must ponder with heartsick urgency one simple question:

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I'm not a big reader, so I will leave it to someone who is. Does Pitts write about all people or only to his choosing? A good writer writes about all people, a prejudice writer can only see skin color. Which is he? I am an IA who doesn't see skin color, only people who overlook it and blame anyone else. I only see anyone colorblindly, until they want to show color. Then I will consider them as a true prejudist person. We have enough people to write about color already.

... is that anythng like poor night vision? Can you get a white blindness?

"We cannot yet know if black blindness was the cause of the death of Jordan Davis a 17-year-old black kid ..." That sure doesn't stop you from blathering though, does it Leonard? I wonder if the shootings at the fairground were caused by fair blindness? Just curious since we seem to be coining new words.

Ok the kid's music was too loud, i understand thats a problem, not defending his actions at all, unfortunately this is a very overpopulated world, somebody is gonna do or say something u disagree/dont like...... get over it
however....... if Mr. Dunn was truly innocent and acting in self defense, why did he flee the scene? why not fill out a police report? and why was no weapon found on the kid or in the car?

and we shoulda known the media was gonna eat this up.... c'mon its florida again, and the trayvon martin case just heating up
change the channel or dont click

the liberal's response, carried by none other than wthomas76. Take away the ability for the law-abiding citizen to protect himself against these black thugs that are out of control. Umm, not going to happen.

So just because I am an advocate for gun control laws that means I am a liberal. If you knew me I do not think anyone would classify me as a liberal. I am just tired of seeing people being killed by trigger happy gun owners. Shout out to Bob Costas for addressing this issue on Sunday night after another tragic killing in Kansas City.

I was stopped at a red-light once with two young children in my car. Another car pulled up and stopped in the lane next to me ( a convertible with the top down). In it were two young women of African-american heritage, playing profane rap music as loudly as they could. I was helplessly listening to f-bombs and racist chants so I turned up my radio as loudly as I could, to drown at the offending noise. I took down the license plate and took it to my lawyer, and asked if I could sue due to invasion of my privacy. He explained that if I did, the offending parties would have full access to my personal information such as my home address and place of employment, and did I want to open that can of worms. I declined to seek charges. But I will never forget.

Oh the horror. You actually had to be annoyed for a few minutes at a red light and you were actually thinking about wasting the courts time with a ridiculous lawsuit. I think you might want to think about changing your user name to insane. Anyone thinking about filing a lawsuit just because they were annoyed for a few minutes at a red light is definitely insane.

@Luce ...... stop with the assumptions. The percentage is higher than u think actually. For example, just this past weekend I was at several tailgates for the Bama/UGA game..... nothing but rap music.
bars and frat parties from Tallahassee to Statesboro to Durham all blast rap music
Now I will admit that most white kids dont have loud stereo systems in their cars, but they do listen to the music, make no mistake. They know the lyrics and dance as well

It is incredibly ignorant for someone not to understand Sane's frustration is not due to one single incident at a red light on one day. Spacecowboy you might need some counseling if you do not recognize that it is the daily accumulation of these incidences of the segment of Savannah's African American community that are disrespectful in every way to the peace to which respectful, decent citizens should be entitled to. I can't sit peacefully on my front porch without being assaulted frequently at any time of the day or night by one of these cars with their pieces of s**t occupants blaring their ghetto music at ear splitting volume as they whiz by my house. If I am out and about in my car for several hours I also am assaulted frequently at red lights as was Sane to the point of day dreaming that if I were not terrified of guns that I could at that moment have one at the ready to reach out and blast the car and it's stereo to bits - in my daydream, I don't waste time taking it to court. Unfortunately, I live on one of the blocks which are used as the staging area for the MLK day parade and the SSU parade which always means I am going to be awoken at 6:45 a.m. to the sounds of this trash music with their trash participants greeting each other upon arrival and who start assaulting my block with their offensive uncivilized music without any regard to those of us who are residents on the block wanting to hear that crap for hours in front of homes. So yes, I too want to take plate numbers and take these animals to court because I am sick and tired of this segment of the African American community who feel that they are entitled to disturb the peace of anyone within earshot with their "low life African American profanity" without consideration or decent regard for anyone else. wthomas as usual your comments lead me to believe you are of the same mentality as these thugs totally clueless to what is ethically and morally decent behavior.

I do not care how loud a person plays their music it still does not give a trigger happy gun owner the right to take the life of this young man. Folks on here whining about loud music is hilarious. I have heard plenty of white people play rock or country music loudly although I am not a fan of any of these music genres it does not bother me. I agree with Space Cowboy I have learned not to make a big deal out of non-issues.

It's good to see an honest attitude for a change. But don't come to my neck of Georgia regardless of color with booming radios and filty lyrics because unlike the ineffectual SCMPD our police will cover your [filtered word] from head to toe with paper!!

How much of country and rock music is distasteful African American profanity? And how often do cars drive by your house with ear splitting music blaring country or rock music? You remind me of Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) one of the habitual race-card players in Congress: "earlier this year, she accused the bi-partisan House ethics committee of racism because a disproportionate number of the Congressional Black Caucus’s members were under investigation. (This was, of course, because a disproportionate number of the Congressional Black Caucus’s members, like Fudge, have engaged in dubious practices that indicate a weak grasp of ethics.)" Same scenario applies here - a disproportionate number of African Americans habitually disturb the peace and sensibilities of decent people with their profane ghetto music therefore there are a disproportionate number of complaints as opposed to complaints about whites playing country or rock music in volumes that are detrimental to quiet enjoyment. Get it?
Amazing how your ghetto mentality comes through in your posts.

Well, it just comes down to how you were brought up I suppose. When you grow up in the ghetto around that mentality, it is as for you- a non issue - but something you are apparently unfamiliar with - when you have been brought up decently, it is offensive and have been taught to respect others.

People who play their radios so loudly while in traffic do so because they have no respect for other people, they enjoy annoying other people which makes them very immature and childish, and they have this childish need to be noticed. It looks like we now live in a society where people have very little or no respect for other people.

Or maybe it is because they like the particular song on the radio. I don't think it has anything to do with not having respect for others. I think it is pretty common that when your favorite song comes on the radio you turn it up and try to sing or rap along. I think the only people who gets offended are old folks but they get offended over everything.

Red?? According to our HOA there is about 40% black/mixed families living here.....one of which is my daughter and her black husband who has multiple degrees, works one full time job and a couple of small businesses, one of which I help him run. ALL the kids in the neighborhood seem respectful and crime is very low. The subdivision is full of middle class families, some living in seven bedroom houses.

I sense that with SC and wthomas's attitude they would not fit in well . The ghetto/red attitude seems absent here.

Whether the music was loud or not is debatable, much like whether a woman is pretty or not.
However can we all agree that loud music doesnt warrant gunshots?
It seems that people have drawn the focus on the kid's loud music as if that was justification for shooting him. Sadly I forget that in our society its becoming ok to kill anyone you disagree with.

No it's not just about the loud music - it is just one small part of a host of atrocities that we are fed up with of this low life ghetto segment of the African American community in Savannah - they have no respect or consideration for anything or anyone - whether it's playing their profane music so loud that it is offensive from a block away, walking around with their pants around their knees, their nasty attitude whether a city employee or a cashier at a store, their disrespect of teachers or anyone in authority, their criminal behavior as elected officials, their ignorant illiterate shouting speeches in support of those same criminal officials, shooting and setting innocent people on fire just for the hell of it, killing police officers and robbing us in our homes and on the street. It is having all this atrocious behavior thrown in our faces and if we say something about it - we are racists!!!!! And the only ones making excuses for them are those who have the same ignorant ghetto attitude - yeah, my idea of hell would be to live in wthomas's neighborhood where everyone behaves like him. Ghetto central surrounded by thugs day in and day out. Turning up the radio for a song that you like? - who are you kidding and who exactly do you imagine falls for that ignorant statement. Of course, I don't why I would expect anything more civilized from him - it's pretty obvious what rung of the ladder he is on.

I can't even imagine being around any more of them than the 50 or so that gather on my block as they line up in front of my house for the MLK or Savannah State parades - that's more than enough exposure for a lifetime - to be around them by the thousands at Orange Crush would be more than I could stand. Just seeing the pictures of how they left Tybee was horrifying - but of course when we object to them trashing our streets and beaches, we are prejudiced racists. Amazing.

U are perceived as racists bcuz u make generalizations and lump all blacks the same. U mention the "low life ghetto segment of african americans" as if they're the only bad ppl who exist in this world. what about the bad whites? the bad hispanics? the bad asians? why label bad ppl with race? it insinuates much more than u know. cant we all just get along?

The point I am trying to make is I do not want children exposed to profane and violent-content music. They are my children, and when sitting in my car, I have the right to expose them to elements of my choosing. What somebody listens to in their car is their business. Not mine. I don't want to wait next to a convertible at a red-light that is loudly playing a CD spewing out profanity and vitriolic hate. I had to drown out their music by turning up my radio full volume, which annoyed two young children.

Isn't it illegal to expose children to elements such as sexual content and violence? It counts just as much if they are exposed through music content as if it were exposed visually in a magazine or a video.

Once again no one want to address the tragic killing of this young man but just want to whine and complain about loud music or go on racist rants about black people. I am glad to see that loud music is more important than this young mans life.

Yes, Virginia, racism exists in the BLACK community as well, though no one seems to want to admit it.

Quite a few black celebrities would never admit to the fact that they will hire ONLY blacks to drive their cars, fly their Gulfstream jets or do any other 'prestigious' work for THEM. This is as much Racial Discrimination as what they purport to oppose in the White community.

And these are the very people who are hypocritical enough to complain about the way that children of all colors act up in this country, high crime rates, etc.

When a black person kills a white person people have a lot to say. But when a white person kills a black person everybody avoid the issue. What does your comment have to do with the tragic killing this young black man? All this guy was guilty of was playing his music loud and this white jerk killed him for no reason.

teach our children respect for themselves and others instead of raising "victims" of "the man" who have a self-designated "right" to insult and harass every damn white person they are exposed to in society.

"when a white person kills a black person everybody avoid the issue."
Are you blind? This discussion is on its second page! Tragic murders, regardless of race mix, stimulate lengthy discussions on this site. Ask yourself how many pages and pages were spent on Travon and Zimmerman on this site.

If you read the article you will see that this young man did not have a weapon and if you read the comments most people are complaining about loud music or they are going on racist rants about black people. This white jerk shot this young man and hid in a hotel like a coward. When a black life is loss people ignore it like its no big deal.

Yeah sure the guy had a rifle. I guess that's why the police did not find any weapon. But as usual I expect people to defend a white guy killing a young black male. Plus the white guy was so afraid that he never called the police and just hid in a hotel. So the next time I pull up to a white person blasting rock or country music I can shoot them since I think rock and country music is obnoxious. I am glad to see people are so concerned about loud music while ignoring that a man's life was taken for no reason.

In most of our "hoods" it is considered perfect P.C. to drop f-bombs around children of any age. It is acceptable for all members of any family to talk this way, because some use them to children in clear earshot in any stores quite regularly.

In my neighborhood, however, my neighbors and I tend to shelter our children from bad influences the best we can. That is why television has warnings when they are going to air shows that may help corrupt children. Some neighborhoods follow this and some really don't care what their children are exposed to and consider it normal. I think that's pitiful.

Good point - IMHO David Allen Coe is incredibly offensive and a lot of his songs are beyond repulsive as is that one - but you made a good point - I wonder how long someone would last blasting that from their car radio driving through West Savannah. Double standard indeed.